Gems from Fable-Land: A Collection of Fables Illustrated by Facts

Abstract

The purpose of this singular book is to present one or more anecdotes of a fitting character, as real-life witnesses to the truth of the moral contained in the text (vi). To fulfill this purpose, seventy-five standard numbered Aesopic fables are gathered, and each is matched with several factual accounts. The fables are listed on ix-xii. Fables are taken from Gay, Krasicki, Gellert, Herder, Croxall, Dodsley, Cowper, Lessing, La Fontaine, and others. Headers at the top of the page over the factual accounts state the virtue or attitude being praised. The illustrations seem to be taken from standard mid-nineteenth-century sources. This endeavor seems to me so nineteenth-century! Those interested in nineteenth-century views of education and fable will find good material in the introductory pages. The binding is starting to split at 193.